More left rudder, right?

Catching up - 7/16

2006-12-10T06:20:24Z

Flight Time: 2.7 hr.
Total Time: 50.4 hr.

This was my long XC, which was actually 0.1 hr. shorter than my "short" XC. ;) It was a gorgeous day. Matt wanted me to not waste any time, because they were expecting showers around Ocala in the afternoon. They ended up staying much further south, and most of my trip was with unbelievable gorgeous skies, especially for FL in mid-July. The first two legs, I stayed low (3000'), expecting the clouds that were in the forecast. No problem with the EVB-SGJ leg. Just said student pilot as usual on each initial callup, and I fretted a little bit during the taxi back to runway 31 at SGJ. (We used 13 last time I was there, and the taxiways are a little more complicated at the 31 end. (Nothing too complicated, but I was still a very wet-behind-the-ears pilot. Now I'm only slightly wet-behind-the-ears. ;) )

I took off and headed for OCF. I actually got the same JAX controller over central FL, and chatted with him for a short bit. I was offered a direct routing, but I said that I wanted to follow my flight plan, and I needed the XC time anyway. Aside from the added stress of heading into an uncontrolled field - EVB has me spoiled with the tower, and I probably only had about 10-15 landings at uncontrolled fields up to that point - I landed at OCF without any major issues.

I taxied back to the beginning of 36, and was soon airborne. I did have one interesting thing on takeoff. OCF was probably around 95 deg. at this point (a little after Noon). The heat of the runway made a nice mirage making the runway look about half as long than it really was. It freaked me out for a second or two, until I realized what it was. After I passed near Leesburg, I asked the controller for 5,500. The clouds were not around yet, and I wanted to enjoy the smooth air and cool temps. I landed back at EVB without incident.

Catching up - 7/15

2006-12-10T05:56:37Z

Flight Time: 2.8 hr.
Total Time: 47.7 hr.

Some of my problems getting my XC in have already been detailed back when it was happening. Matt came back and endorsed my log book, so I wouldn't have to use Andy's endorsements. He left for a vacation, anyway. This time, I had the planning done, and the weather was pretty good. I left in the morning, so the usual scattered to broken layer had not formed yet. I flew to Lake City (LCQ). It was a pretty good trip. I was able to stay up around 4,500', and I even chatted with a JAX controller on the Saturday morning. There were some clouds forming in over LCQ, but I was able to easily get under them before landing. I forgot that the tower was closed on the weekends, but after calling the unicom, I was reminded of that fact. I did the landing with no major problems, and then proceeded over to the FBO to close my flight plan and stretch my legs.

Heading back, the good ol' Florida clouds layer had formed. No precip, at least at that time of day, but I had to head back under the clouds at about 3000', where it was warmer and much bumpier. (At least it won't be like it was in Sep and early Oct where the clouds still often formed but over 1000' lower. Later, I'll get to my trip to Naples and had to head across FL at 1,700'.) No problems getting back into EVB, and I had just done my first solo takeoff and landing at another airport and made it back.

Catching up - 7/6

2006-12-10T05:43:16Z

Lesson Time: 1.7 hr.
Total Time: 44.9 hr.

This was my prog check for solo XC's. As you can see, it took a while to finally get it in. I did a short ground session with Eran, one of the assistant chiefs, which I passed with flying colors. For the flight portion, I did pretty well. We transitioned through DAB's airspace to the north. The only problem I had was I was cleared to go up to 3,500', but I could only really do about 2,500' VFR. I stopped climbing and I was late talking to ATC. I also told them I couldn't maintain VFR to 3,500, but I didn't ask the controller for 2,500. That's when he came back asking what I wanted to do, and I asked for 2,500.

When we were headed towards Palatka in the middle of the state we did a diversion, and headed back towards Flagler. I had some problems computing my groundspeed at this point. We did a landing at X47, and proceeded back to EVB. Everything else was fine, and I was cleared to go on my solo XC's.

Catching up - 6/30

2006-12-10T05:34:03Z

Lesson Time: 3.1 hr.
Total Time: 43.2 hr.

This was my a cross country to SGJ and OCF in preparation for my long cross-country. I did it with Andy, another CFI as Matt was on vacation. (As an aside, Andy is now flying freight around the Caribbean out of the Miami area, I believe.) I was late getting my planning finished, once again. The first leg was pretty normal. I used my flight log with dead reckoning up the coast to SGJ. When there we stopped and grabbed a quick bite to eat at the restaurant at the FBO. The next leg, we used the GPS with me hand flying it. We did a quick touch-and-go at OCF, then proceeded back to EVB. We got permission to go through the restricted areas in the middle of the state, and used the GPS and auto-pilot with rental power, as Andy had another appointment to get to. All-in-all, a good flight, and I knew I was ready to do it on my own.

Catching up - 6/29

2006-12-10T05:24:41Z

Lesson Time: 1.3 hr.
Total Time: 40.1 hr.

This was my first solo time after my solo. It was weird doing everything without my instructor around, but I'd soon get used to it. I did some steep turns over the shoreline, but it was pretty busy in the practice area (at least for me at the time), so I headed back to do some landings. I finished up proving to myself that I could take a plane out alone, and come home alive. :)

Catching Up - 6/26 (Night XC)

2006-12-02T04:20:35Z

Lesson Time: 3.3 hr.
Total Time: 38.8 hr.

This was my night cross-country. Having recently done my first cross-country and solo, my confidence was pretty high. The planning was good and pretty much on time. Having flown at night 6 days before, I was much more prepared for what to expect. We had some showers dissipating over central FL, so I was just barely able to get the trip in. In fact, we had canceled the previous night's flight because of almost the same conditions.

The trip over was pretty uneventful. I got my first class B experience in MCO's airspace. The only annoying this was trying to fill out my flight log with the low light level in the plane, even with the map light in the control wheel. We landed in PIE, took a little time to switch papers around, then took off. I got a little bit of my first experience with a false horizon and a little false sensations. We took off to the south and did a 270 deg. turn back to the east. At the end of the turn, the sensations made me feel level, and the coastline of Tampa Bay kind of supported it. My AI showed a 5 deg. turn to the right, which was supported by the DG. It's a minor thing, but it's something I carry with me today about trusting your instruments over the feel of the plane.

We headed back to EVB. On the way back, we headed south and flew over Disney World (above the TFR, of course). We then flew over MCO, and headed back up to EVB. There, we did some extra landings in order to get my required 10 landings for the PPL.

Catching up - 6/24

2006-11-21T03:01:40Z

Lesson Time: 1.2 hr.
Total Time: 35.5 hr.

This was a simple lesson. It was just to learn VOR tracking. It was one of those normal Florida summer days with clear skies over the coastline, and pretty big buildups starting just 5-10 miles inland. My confidence was sky high from soloing the day before.

Catching up - 6/23 (The BIG day)

2006-11-21T01:04:14Z

Lesson Time: 0.9 hr.
Solo Time: 0.5 hr.
Total Time: 34.3 hr.

I'll include what I posted on CaaM that day:

After 32.9 hours (including my first 2.8 hour cross-country yesterday), I soloed today at about 1000 at EVB. I was actually ready two days ago, but I didn't have enough time left with the plane. I have had some frustrating practices the last couple of weeks where it seems like things just wouldn't come together, especially my landings. Today made it all worth it. :) Here's an account of the flight.

The morning started with a little bit of rain, but it cleared up. My instructor and I went up for some pattern work. After 3 trips around the pattern with some shaky, but safe landings and one go-around where I didn't feel comfortable, we checked to make sure that ATIS was reporting a high enough ceiling for me to solo. The wind was a good 30-40 degrees off centerline, but only at 10 knots, nothing I couldn't handle. The ceiling was high enough, so we went around for two more trips in the pattern. With just 20 deg. of flaps to help with the crosswind, I greased the first, after which he said "Another good one, and you're going up by yourself." The landing wasn't as good, but still pretty good. I was heading back to the ramp.

After some final words, my instructor stepped out with the engine running at idle so I wouldn't have to do another runup. I called ground, and headed out to the runway, by myself for the first time. Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous, as I had done it many times before. After my before takeoff check, I called the tower and was cleared to taxi and hold on the runway. Just as I was stopping, I was cleared for takeoff, and I gunned the engine. First trip around the pattern, I accidentally let it up to 900 feet on the downwind (pattern is at 800 at EVB). Wow, it does climb better without an instructor on board. ;) I came in for landing, with only 20 deg of flaps again, and made a pretty good one. I taxied back to the runway, and was soon off the ground again.

This approach was interesting. There was a CFI and student in a 172, follwed by another first time solo in a 172, folowed by me in N298SP. There was a twin waiting to take off, followed by an IFR jet, who was also waiting for an IFR clearance. I'm sure the controller was sweating a little. I was told to wait for ATC to call my base, while the other two planes went in. My base was finally called when I was almost over the ocean, and the twin took off. I think I handled the long final pretty well. My CFI said that I hit pretty hard, but it didn't feel like I did, but I was a bit sideloaded. By far the worst landing of the three, but not unsafe. It did unsettle me a bit, and I accidentally turned the airplane a little too hard onto the taxiway, and I heard a bit of a squeak from the tires. I also made my big mistake of the flight. I missed a radio call for me while the jet was about to take off behind me. I got off the runway and waited for the other radio traffic to stop, then made my call, so it wasn't too big of an oops.

Taxiing back to runway 29, I took things a little slow to settle me down. Once I was ready for takeoff, I went around for one more trip. This time things had cleared out. After a nice approach, I came in for the landing. I started my flare with a little bit too much energy left, but I let the nose drop a little, and when it was ready, I flared again. I was greeted by a nice little squeak as I greased it! :D I then taxied back as I received my congrats from the tower.

I parked it, and after getting congrats from my CFI, I headed inside to get my shirt cut. This was a HUGE confidence boost that I needed. I've already started night flight and a cross country due to scheduling, with a night cross country to PIE coming up on Sunday. I think in 2-3 weeks, I'll have my Private!

Sorry I let this post go a little long, but I'm sure this will be a day I look back upon for a long time. The smile hasn't left my face yet. Here's a picture with me and N298SP. (Yes, it's getting a little hot in FL. :))

Catching up - 6/22

2006-11-21T00:56:21Z

Lesson Time: 2.8 hr.
Total Time: 32.9 hr.

This was my first cross-country. The day didn't start out well. I was way behind on planning (over an hour), but Matt pushed his schedule back and let me finish up. We went to Lake City (LCQ) which has the distinction of being one of the few towered airports without class D airspace. As it was my first XC, I felt a good bit behind of things. Just filling out the flight log took a lot of thinking, along with learning how to talk to the FSS and DAB controllers to pass through their airspace, things that are second nature to me now. All-in-all, it was a pretty good weather day for June, and it was a good flight, although I still had the bad taste in my mouth from the long delay at the beginning.

Holy Crap...

2006-10-21T02:29:58Z

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I posted to this last. Several times, I was going to post, but I just took the lazy way out, I guess. Well, not anymore. I'm going to start logging my flights on here again. I'm going to make a seperate post for each of them, just to break it up, so expect to see a bunch on here to start out.

Other events in my life have been my mom, sister, and the three kids (2 nephews and a niece) coming down to visit me with a trip to Disney World. It was an awesome time, even though my feet are just now recovered from all the walking. Otherwise, not much else has been going on.

Flight scrubbed (again)

2006-07-14T17:14:30Z

There was a big cell building north of Titusville moving northwest which was just enough to scrub the flight. There's also some smaller showers around EVB, including one that was raining pretty hard when I arrived at the airport. I'll try again tomorrow at 0900.

Passed my knowledge test

2006-07-13T02:17:23Z

I finally got around to taking the knowledge test today. I passed with an 88%. Piece of cake. I'll be attempting my solo XCs starting Friday again. Tomorrow, I have to wait for my couch, then go meet up with Matt to get squared away since he is back in town.

No flight today

2006-07-09T16:38:08Z

I just got a call from the lady working dispatch, and conditions are below student pilot minimums. In the summer in Florida, it is either storming and clear or hazy and dry. Well, it's a little hazy and dry today. The vis is 7 sm at EVB. There's also a scattered layer at 1200 ft. That probably also kept me from going. The stuff up to the north is as good as it could be. 3000 feet altitude would get me there, but it is not meant to be. This sucks.

AAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH

2006-07-08T15:26:44Z

Yesterday's weather was pretty bad with the front still to the north, but the front came through and is south around Melbourne today. However, there's always those stupid Florida cumulus clouds sitting around 2-3 thousand feet. Add to that some buildups around EVB that popped up in the last 30 minutes right before I was going to go, and the CFI there didn't approve the trip. Lake City was clear, but Gainseville reported a broken layer at about 2300 feet. Of course, they are now reporting less. I probably would have gone, as I don't think I'm going to get a better shot for some time, but maybe it's for the best. I'll try again tomorrow at 1300, as there are no planes available for 4 hours in the morning. Chances are highly likely that I won't go, even with the more favorable weather pattern. Florida afternoons are almost always stormy in the summer. My next chance will be on Wednesday, as I have some business to attend to down south. I have a bad feeling that I won't have my instrument rating in time for Meatball's party. *sigh*

I will be updating my old flights today.

Wow, it's been a while

2006-07-06T20:52:31Z

Yikes, I haven't updated this thing in a while. Today, I passed my prog check, and I will be soloing cross-country tomorrow if the weather doesn't hold me back. Over the next few days, I will be making posts with the flights I have done, and getting this thing current again.

Also in my life, my COBRA insurance is running out in a week, and I'm stressing over that. I also wanted to get a dentist appointment in before it went bye-bye, but I let the date sneak up on me, and I don't think I'll get an appointment. (I've tried with a couple of places already.) I let the date sneak up on me, like I do with a bunch of other things. I know it'll all work out in the end, but it's stressing me out right now.

Two flights yesterday, one today

2006-06-22T02:56:12Z

Lesson Time: 2.2 hr.
Total Time: 27.9 hr.
This was a three-hour scheduled lesson. We went out and did some steep turns, followed by flying to the north over the top of DAB's class C airspace. We then did some stalls, which I was a little rusty on, but nothing horrible. That was followed by an engine out into Flagler. One more quick trip around the pattern, and then we stopped for a quick restroom break. We then left Flagler, and went straight home to EVB, transitioning through DAB's class C. We then landed. I had a little trouble on landings with the lesson, especially with my flaring.

Lesson Time: 1.1 hr.
Total Time: 29.0 hr.
This was my first night flight. Boy, it was different. I didn't expect how hard it would be to see the airport lights, and how much different approaches would look. I did a landing in Deland, and a landing over in Massey Ranch. Finally we did some traffic work back in EVB. I wasn't great, but I did ok for my first night flight.

Lesson Time: 1.1 hr.
Total Time: 30.1 hr.
This is the flight I have been waiting for. Just traffic work, but I was confident from the beginning. Six landings total, with a mix of normal, soft, short, and one engine out. The beginning of the flight was different with them reversing the active runway, just as we were on the runway taking off. I got a little confused as we went straight out to 800 ft, then did a right turn to set up base. Thinking about it now, I realized what was being done, but at the time, I couldn't picture it in my head. That landing, we went around, but I then settled things down. The next landing was normal, and I had a bit of an unstabilized approach, but I got it down. After that, things got much better. The engine out, I didn't point the plane directly towards the numbers soon enough, but I still just made the displaced threshold. What I believe was the next landing, I did a soft. It was almost perfect! If you didn't hear the tires do the alight squeak, you wouldn't even realize that I landed. I kept the nosewheel up, too. :) I did some other landings. I had slight problems with the shorts, but nothing serious. We headed back in, where I thought I might solo, but we needed to have about 15 more minutes than what was left available. I also had a slight need to take a restroom break, anyways. My logbook has been endorsed for solo. :) :) :) :)

So, I'm flying my first cross country tomorrow to Lake City (LCQ). Then on Friday, I am flying what should be my solo. :)

No flight today, again

2006-06-18T15:10:59Z

My instructor is still sick. I'm heading down to Juno Beach to visit my parents for Father's Day and tomorrow. I'll be back on Monday night, and I should be flying again on Tuesday.

Flight Lesson Yesterday (Fri)

2006-06-17T13:00:46Z

Lesson Time: 1.3 hr.
Total Time: 25.7 hr.

Yesterday was some landings with three engine outs spaced in. I had 5 landings and two go-arounds. We also practiced some shorts and a soft. Overall, I did well, but there were some things that I let slip. During my turn from upwind to crosswind, I was letting my airspeed get too low (below 70 kts). I was also turning about 15 degrees too shallow, even though I was picking out landmarks to use during the turn. At times, I let the plane go up to almost 900 ft in our 800 ft. traffic pattern. At the other end of the pattern, I flew some unstabilized approaches. On the emergency side of things, I did well on the first emergency, but the other two needed work.

Here's the positive side of this. I still feel I was pretty safe with the plane. The flares were still good, although on some of them, I was probably a foot-and-a-half too high and came down a little hard when I ran out of energy. None of my landings would I label unsafe. It's all a matter of polishing things up, and remembering all of them in my head. I'm now juggling more things in my mind to look out for than I was when I first was doing patterns. They are starting to become more ingrained now, and I think that landings soon won't be as hard as they feel right now.

Right now, I was supposed to be preflighting my plane for the lesson that possibly could have been my first solo, but Matt called in sick. I'm still on for tomorrow, and I think it'll be the day. :)

Flight Lesson Today (Wed)

2006-06-15T04:51:15Z

Lesson Time: 1.3 hr.
Total Time: 24.4 hr.

Today, I finally got flying again since Sat. In between, I had two ground sessions with Matt, where I did a flight plan. There was a good wind blowing today, but no rain or strong winds that we had the previous three days due to Alberto. We took off and flew up to 5000+ ft, above the cloud base, but not above the tops. We did some steep turns, which I had trouble with due to the lack of horizon, but that's not a good excuse. We then descended below the cloud deck, where I did some more turns, which I did much better on.

Finally, it was time for a emergency engine out. At the beginning, I did ok, but instead of going straight to Massey, I went to the right of it, "Setting myself up for landing." Dumb. Get over the field, and circle. That put me at Massey at 700 ft., too low to make an easy circle to lose the altitude. Matt took the controls, and put us into a 60 degree turn, with lots of speed. He then did the landing with 10 deg flaps, which still required full rudder deflection. After a short debrief on the taxiway, we did short field takeoff and headed back to EVB.

One mistake I did was forgetting to say that I had information Juliet when contacting the controller. I was a little sloppy getting myself into the pattern, and the wind shifted right at about 50 ft AGL and I missed it, so Matt had to help me with the landing. We then called it a day.

I just mentally wasn't there today. It wasn't as bad as the other day I had about 2 weeks ago, but it wasn't good. Matt had to squawk a lot of things today. I think a lot of it was due to some outside factors, one of which is my eating and sleeping habits. These are things that can be corrected.

I am determined and still optimistic about my training. Bad days happen to all of us, and I still think I'm going to be a great pilot.

Solo Prog Check Today (18th Flight)

2006-06-11T05:08:21Z

Lesson Time: 1.2 hr.
Total Time: 23.1 hr.

Today was my prog check for solo. It was good news and bad news, but I'll get to that in a bit. I preflighted my plane and taxied out. I made one little mistake where after doing the runup at the base of the tower I turned the plane around, and almost took the wrong taxiway to runway 11. I had my airport diagram out, but three taxiways converge there, and I got a little confused as I was turning around. Fortunately, the instructor didn't mention it at the end. :)

We took off with no problem, and headed to the south. We did the clearing turns, and then I put the plane into slow flight. No problem. We did some power-on stalls, but the one wrinkle is that he had me do it with a 15 deg banked turn. I've always done it wing-level. They weren't perfect, but he didn't mention it afterward, so I don't think it was too much of an issue. We then did some power-off stalls, not much of a problem, except Matt and I always went from flaps 30 to flaps 10. (We do the same for go-arounds.) This instructor wasn't pleased with that. That was dinged later. I also got dinged for not being able to physically tell where the restricted area is to the south. I haven't gone that far south, so I knew it was there, but I didn't know where it started exactly. Another small ding.

We then headed over to the west where I had my engine taken out. This is something that I haven't worked on much and it showed. It was also something that Andy (the instructor who I had one lesson with) gave me some bad help. I pulled the "engine out" checklist out, and ran through the checks. No good. I need to have the memory items down, which I do know, but before, I was told that trying to do them from memory was making me rush. Oh well. I also had trouble with making the field (there was a grass strip next to I-95 near where the engine was pulled.) I was too high, and I had trouble with getting the airplane to a proper height for landing. Also, after he put the engine back in, he pulled it again. I should have pitched down to keep airpseed, but I didn't. These are things that I do need to know, but I hadn't practiced them so I'm not kicking myself for it.

Finally, it was time to head back to EVB for some landings. Fortunately, they were all normal landings, but the wind was a little different than they were reporting, and it was about 40 deg off centerline. It wasn't too fast of a wind (~15 kts.) but the way it was blowing was the issue. After being used to yesterday's calm weather, I didn't put in enough speed at first on approach (60-65 kts, instead of 65-70 kts.), and I was often letting myself come up a little short because I didn't need as fast of a descent rate with the headwind component. My crosswind correction was giving me a little trouble once again, too. I did one go-around when the end of my approach was getting a little destabilized. My landings generally progressively got better. We did 5 total, with the last one being a power-off 180, which I really haven't done.

So, here's the bad news. I'm not ready to solo yet. He gave me about 7 dings, most of which I have already mentioned, but the good news is, they were pretty much doing things the way I have been doing them with other instructors, or things that I haven't really practiced that much. In other words, I don't think that it was nerves or just blowing it. In fact, the part that he said needed work was the emergency stuff. The rest of the flight was pretty good. So for the good news. I don't need to fly with him again. All I have to do is work with Matt on emergencies (just one lesson, I bet) and Matt can then sign me off for solo. Also, today was HOT, and I think I handled it well. I was pretty tired when I got home, but I don't think it affected me much until near the end.

So, I'm pretty proud of myself today. I answered things to the best of my abilities, and while I was nervous, I didn't let it get to me. For the most part, I think I showed that I was ready to be PIC. And soon I will be! :)

Seventeenth Lesson Today (WOOHOO!)

2006-06-09T14:30:47Z

Lesson Time: 1.5 hr.
Total Time: 21.9 hr.

Today was landings... 13 of them in all with one go-around and one instructor pattern (to give me a little rest). Today was a gorgeous day because we started early in the morning. We were out at the plane by 0740 and off well before 0800. Winds were very light, and the first hour the air was VERY ssssmmmmmmmoooooooootttttthhhhhhhh. There was also little traffic until the very end. We started with some normal landings, then moved to some softs, then to some shorts, with a no-flaps landing mixed in. I love no-flaps landings because it's very hard to balloon. :)

For the bad stuff, the one go-around was because I flared about 15 feet too high, and would've come down hard. I had a couple of other times where I flared a tick high. The first landing I remember I landed flat, but for the rest of them, my flare was pretty good. I had a couple of issues with crosswind correction, sometimes not having enough, but more often having too much, since the wind was so light. In fact, having such a light wind was tricky because you had to be very good on speed on final for the shorts and softs. No coming in a little fast for gust factor. The only final other thing I could see wrong, was we got a good bit of traffic for the last two patterns, and I got a little bit behind on the radios. Matt of course backed me up on those. I'm not too worried about that as I will be generously using "student pilot" when I'm solo. I definitely flew the plane first.

Now for the good news... Matt canceled my weekend flights with him, and I am being put up for my solo prog check!!!!! :D My landings weren't perfect (no one's are), but none of them were unsafe to me or the plane, and I was consistent enough. :) I think about half of them would even be rated as good. :) Tomorrow, I'm just going to see Matt for about 30 minutes to get me ready for the prog check. Sometime during the weekend, I will fly with one of the chief instructors, and hopefully Monday I'll fly with Matt, but for only half of the time! I'm ready!!!! :)

P.S. My car may cost up to $700, but I'm going to take it to a different place that specializes in transmissions. I think I'm going to have it fixed.

Crappy event happened to me today

2006-06-08T18:10:43Z

I for EVB just after 0830 for a 0900 flight. On Dunlawton (the first leg of my drive) I accidentally let out the clucth too quickly when shifting to 5th and was greeted with a GRIND!!! Whoops. Oh well, something that it's been a while since I've done, but no harm. Put the clutch back in, got it into 5th. OK... slow down and make the right turn onto Nova. (for Laila "Disassemble DEAD! No disassemble!") Start speeding back up past the next light. I get to 5th gear. The selector slides in without effort, and I can feel that the gear hasn't gone in. I can also feel the car in neutral when I step on the gas. Uhhhh ok... Go back to 4th and bring the speed back up. Start playing around with it, I may have gotten 5th in once, but here comes the last light really in my way. (The next light at US 1, I usually don't stop at.) It's red, time to stop. I decide to play with the gear selector and I intend to put it into reverse just for a sec. (Reverse and 5th are on the same fork in my gear selector.) Ok, lights green, I try to take it out of reverse. Nope. Car stalls. Clutch in, restart. Try to take it out, and car stalls again. SHIT!!!!

I put on my flashers, and called AAA. While I was on the phone with them, I had to hang up, and let a cop push me over to the parking lot next to the intersection as I was blocking the left lane. I then called AAA again, then called Matt to cancel, and waited almost an hour for the tow truck. My car is now at a shop waiting to have it's transmission taken out and checked. I got an Enterprise rental, and I got back to my place about 3 hours after I had the trouble. I'm now waiting to see how bad the damage will be. :( If it gets to around $1000 or above, I'm getting a new car, well new-to-me. I'll probably just donate this one, and have them tow it away. I only paid $2000 for it back in December. I have already put in almost $1000 for brakes, some engine tune-up stuff, and the biggest chuck of it, a Catalytic converter and piping to it that went back in Feb, I believe. My car was running great and I thought I had it set up to give me at least two more years of good service. I know it's a dumb little Saturn SL2, but I drove one around during my time in SEA, and this one was my first manual, which I love driving. I'll know in a bit how much longer I'll own it for.

*SIGH*

Off today; Sixteenth lesson yesterday

2006-06-07T20:43:34Z

Lesson Time: 0.8 hr.
Total Time: 20.4 hr.

Yesterday, I had a 90 minutes oral about aircraft systems and weather. It wasn't too difficult, but I will have to really start studying when I get to the oral portion of my checkride. After that, it was time for an hour lesson of landings. We hurried out there since the plane got back barely in time, meaning I couldn't go out 10 minutes early and preflight. We still got in 7 landings. It was once again a mix of regular, shorts, and softs. I felt the most in-command of the airplane to date, but it still wasn't enough. The main thing was the crosswind correction at the end. I also had issues with holding the nosegear off when doing softs and holding the right speeds on takeoff. I think these are all things that I can fix tomorrow morning.

I know that I've hit a bit of a plateau with about the last almost 10 hours of flying, but I don't think it's much of an issue. I've learned some valuable lessons on the way, and I have a feeling that I'm being asked to go above and beyond what most students in the country have to show for soloing, eg being able to perform a good short or soft field landing. I could be wrong on that, but I know that I'm still becoming a better pilot, even if I haven't soloed just yet. I will when it's time. :)

Fifteenth Lesson This Morning

2006-06-05T23:55:34Z

Lesson Time: 1.9 hr.
Total Time: 19.6 hr.

Today was a more relaxing day. We flew out towards Deland. I remembered to lean the mixture, but I didn't use the checklist, so I forgot to turn off the taxi and strobe lights (we use the taxi lights for takeoff in the day). It was hazy, so I could've left them on for collision avoidance, but I need to slow down and use the checklists at the right times so I don't miss things.

We did a set of steep turns that were really good, and then we headed over to Deland for some landings. I misread the CTAF frequency, and Matt let me do it, so when we broadcasted our intentions, it wouldn't work. Once again, I need to slow down, and if I need more time, just fly the plane away from the destination and airspace until I'm ready.

We did four landings total at Deland. The first one was flat, but somewhat ok. The second landing was really good. I had the crosswind correction and flare just right, and I pretty much greased it on the runway. The next landing we set up for a short field. I had a really good approach, and I was just a tick high (maybe 20 ft) when crossing the threshold. I pulled out the power and let the nose drop. Big mistake. The extra energy created upon forcing the plane down cause me to bounce three times. It would have probably bounced more, but Matt took out the flaps to keep it on the runway. These weren't horrible bounces and wouldn't have hurt me or the plane, but it was a big lesson in how one bad decision after a string of great ones can undo everything.

We taxied back this time and debriefed the landing on the ground. We then took off for one more trip in the pattern. I know that we were doing another short field, but I forget exactly how it went. It was not as good as the previous one. I know that I had been a little fast (5-10 kts) on most of my approaches today. After a taxi-back, we took off and headed to the north. After setting up for cruise, we turned to the south, and Matt put me on a heading for the east side of Deland to check my pilotage to see if I could avoid the DAB class C airspace. With a little help from Matt to not overthink things, I did ok.

With Matt's help, we talked to approach control, and headed into DAB. I am very unfamiliar with the airport, so I relied on Matt big time. I had one issue where I heard the controller tell us that she'd call our base, but then I missed her canceling that when she cleared us to land. I turned base anyway, while Matt asked for me if we were cleared to turn. (He knew already, but was letting me make the mistake.) I needed to either, hear the instruction correctly, or ask and not make the turn. My landing was once again fast, and I floated a good bit down the runway. This caused us to make a full-stop instead of a touch-and-go.

HEre's where an interesting things happened. As we held off the runway, but short of the taxiway, some fire trucks raced past us. I then heard a plane with an emergency coming in. The guy was a student pilot soling, and we didn't hear what was wrong. He did seem to be pretty calm for what was happening. They let him come straight in on a crossing runway from the active runways. After he landed without incident, we taxied back to our runway, and took off.

This is where I think that I was starting to get fatigued. I forgot the climb checklist once we were above 1000 ft. I also mangled a radio call to EVB's tower. I said it too early and with information that was no help to the controller. Finally, when we were abeam the numbers, I put too much nose-down trim in, and came in WAY too fast. I floated way down the runway, and had a crappy landing. I should have just done a go-around, but I had get-home-itis. I do feel good about my decision to not add flaps at the last second (I was at flaps 10) and make a bad situation worse.

I learned some big lessons today. Number one, I need to not be afraid of the slip. I didn't mention it in the landing that I was just a tick high that my best option was to do a very quick slip, and I would've dropped that 20 feet easily without adding energy. My other landings where I was fast, slip and that speed will slow right up. It's a good option when you're above the white arc, especially. Number two, I need to get my v-speeds better. On takeoff, I was often keeping the plane on the runway too long. I also need to get better at keeping the plane in ground effect when doing shorts and softs. Number three, I need to slow down and use the checklists. I'm rushing and doing things from memory, because I want to impress my instructor. Bullshit! If I need a few extra seconds to double-check things during low key times like climbout at 1000 feet or on the ground, who cares what my instructor or my pax think.

Well, tomorrow I have a ground session, and Matt put me on for an hour in a plane afterward. We'll do about 6 landings. I think he was expecting me to be ready for solo today (so was I), and for the first half of the flight, he thought we had it. But, it's fine and ok that I'm not ready yet. I'm learning more lessons and getting more confident in the plane once again. Tomorrow, I am going to ask Matt to let me purposefully go high on final, and then I'll slip it down. I'm tired of not being comfortable with that tool. I'm already visualizing how tomorrow is going to look and feel. I think it's going to be my best lesson yet.

Fourteenth Flight Lesson Today

2006-06-04T02:53:39Z

Lesson Time: 1.2 hr.
Total Time: 17.7 hr.

I'm going to keep today's entry short. I did 7 landings, mostly soft fields, some no-flaps, some regular. The wind was gusting pretty strong today, which didn't help matters. The day started with me getting the layout of the airport mixed up and blowing through the hold short line, and didn't get much better from there on. I felt behind the plane, and each trip around the pattern, I seemed to get more frustrated. I would do somethings well, but then have a problem in some other area. My patterns especially were shoddy today.

In short, I'd like to forget today. I'm going to be spending tomorrow relaxing, either down in Juno Beach with my parents or here. On Monday, Matt and I are going to take a partial break. We're scheduling a 2-1/2 hour lesson so we can leave the pattern and the area for a little while. We'll do some stuff in the air, some sightseeing, and maybe a landing at an airport here or there. In short, I want to do something that reminds me why I got into this and have fun. I'd like to do some flying where I am not constantly controlling the plane (trimmed straight-and-level flight) and get to look outside and enjoy the scenery.